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African American History

Learn about the achievements of African Americans who have shaped South Carolina and American history.

Black History Month is celebrated every February to honor the achievements of African Americans who have shaped American history. Historian Carter G. Woodson hoped to raise awareness of African American's contributions to civilization by establishing Negro History Week. The event was first celebrated during a week in February 1926 that included both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass' birthdays. The week was later expanded to a month in 1976 during the United States bicentennial.

PHOTO: On March 20, 1969, Black hospital workers at the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston went on strike to protest the firing of twelve employees and to call for higher wages and union recognition.

Within this Collection

Content Type
Columbia College | South Carolina Public Radio Colonoware | South Carolina Public Radio

Audio

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Colonoware | South Carolina Public Radio
"C" is for Colonoware. On historic-period sites in South Carolina, archaeologists often find locally made, hand-built unglazed pottery that was fired in open hearths rather than kilns. Vessels and...
 Hunter, Jane Edna Iris | South Carolina Public Radio

Audio

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Hunter, Jane Edna Iris | South Carolina Public Radio
"H" is for Hunter, Jane Edna Iris (1882-1971). Nurse, social worker. Family circumstances forced Hunter to go into domestic service when barely in her teens. She was able to work her way through...
Hemphill, Robert Witherspoon | South Carolina Public Radio Hunter-Gault, Charlayne | South Carolina Public Radio

Audio

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Hunter-Gault, Charlayne | South Carolina Public Radio
"H" is for Hunter-Gault, Charlayne (b. 1942). Journalist, civil rights activist. Hunter-Gault attended Wayne State University in Detroit before a judge allowed her to desegregate the University of...
Palmetto Bugs | South Carolina Public Radio Praise Houses | South Carolina Public Radio

Audio

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Praise Houses | South Carolina Public Radio
"P" is for Praise Houses. “Praise houses” (sometimes called “prayer houses”) functioned on antebellum South Carolina plantations as both the epitome of slave culture and symbols of resistance to...
Secession Crisis of 1850-51 | South Carolina Public Radio Slave Patrols | South Carolina Public Radio

Audio

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Slave Patrols | South Carolina Public Radio
"S" is for Slave Patrols. Slave patrols were a crucial mechanism of slave control in colonial and antebellum South Carolina. Like the state’s earliest slave codes, the earliest slave patrol systems...
Secession Crisis of 1850-51 | South Carolina Public Radio Simkins, Modjeska Monteith | South Carolina Public Radio

Audio

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Simkins, Modjeska Monteith | South Carolina Public Radio
“S” is for Simkins, Modjeska Monteith [1899-1992] Educator, civil rights organizer, community activist. Simkins’s inspiration to become an advocate for the black community came from her parents. After...
 African American Contributions | Hanover House 3

Video

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African American Contributions | Hanover House
Episode 3
William Hiott and Patrick McMillan discuss the contributions made by African Americans. When Paul de St. Julien died in 1741, he owned forty-five slaves. Most of the profit which came from St. Julien...
Burton, Edward Milby | South Carolina Public Radio Brown, Morris | South Carolina Public Radio

Audio

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Brown, Morris | South Carolina Public Radio
"B" is for Brown, Morris (1770-1849). Clergyman. Brown, a free mulatto, was born in Charleston. He received a license to preach as a Methodist lay preacher and organized an African congregation in...
 Doby, Lawrence Edward | South Carolina Public Radio

Audio

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Doby, Lawrence Edward | South Carolina Public Radio
"D" is for Doby, Lawrence Edward [1923-2003]. Baseball Player. Larry Doby was the first African American to play baseball in the American League and the second African American to manage a major...
 Sue Monk Kidd

Video

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Sue Monk Kidd
Meet Sue Monk Kidd, author of “The Secret Life Of Bees.” With over six million copies of her novel sold, along with a major motion picture, Monk became a literary sensation. Monk briefly talks about...
Tuskegee Airmen - Teacher Resources

Document

Tuskegee Airmen - Teacher Resources
In 1941, the Tuskegee Airmen, an all African American flying squadron was established in Tuskegee, Alabama. The purpose of this Army Air Corps program was to train African Americans to fly and...
Road Trip - Teacher Resources

Document

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Road Trip - Teacher Resources
Road Trip includes video tours of historical places in South Carolina and videos about important events from the civil rights movement. The modern Civil Rights Movement began in the 1940s and many...
Orangeburg Massacre: Remembrances & Reckoning, Part 3 - Emma McCain
   - Episode 3 Orangeburg Massacre: Remembrances & Reckoning, Part 1 1

Video

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Orangeburg Massacre: Remembrances & Reckoning, Part 1
Episode 1
Fifty years have passed since the tragic Orangeburg Massacre occurred at South Carolina State College. With the protests at the All Star Bowling Alley mere days before, no one anticipated the massacre...
 Orangeburg Massacre: Remembrances & Reckoning, Part 3 3

Video

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Orangeburg Massacre: Remembrances & Reckoning, Part 3
Episode 3
Another one of the students who was present at the night of the shooting was Emma McCain. Dr. McCain was beaten by police officers that night, and now she offers her recollections of that tragic night...
 Orangeburg Massacre: Remembrances & Reckoning, Part 2 2

Video

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Orangeburg Massacre: Remembrances & Reckoning, Part 2
Episode 2
In this segment, the panelists discuss Cleveland Sellers’ role in the incident. Sellers was the only “agitator” tried and convicted from what happened the night of the shooting. Dr. Sellers also joins...
 Orangeburg Massacre: Remembrances & Reckoning, Part 6 6

Video

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Orangeburg Massacre: Remembrances & Reckoning, Part 6
Episode 6
Bonniwell Graham, W. Lloyd Walker, and Johnny A. Jones were students at S.C. State College, and they share their experiences during the night of the shooting, along with some of the injuries sustained...
 Dorothy Wilson | Blythewood History 1

Video

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Dorothy Wilson | Blythewood History
Episode 1
Dorothy Wilson talks about her grandfather, William Griffin. The history of William Griffin goes back to 1886. The Griffin family were sharecroppers and farmers. Her grandfather purchased 80 acres of...
 Frances Davis | Blythewood History 3

Video

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Frances Davis | Blythewood History
Episode 3
Francine Davis' family moved to Blythewood in 1940 so she can attend the only black high school available in District 2. There were several church-based schools for black children to attend, but...